Santa Fe, Roswell, and Home

Note: The activities below occurred on Monday, July 15, Tuesday, July 16, and Wednesday, July 17.

After 4 nights in Cripple Creek, we left early Monday morning and made our way to Santa Fe. We had decided to take 2 nights on our return trip home. This would give us the chance to see some new country.

We followed our customary route from Cripple Creek to Pueblo. Most people would probably go to Colorado Springs from Cripple Creek, then down I-25, but we prefer going through Canon City. The map below shows the 2 routes. Our route is a mere 1.4 miles longer, but it involves far fewer headaches. And we think the scenery is much prettier.

2 routes from Cripple Creek to Pueblo.

We stopped for breakfast in Canon City at the local McDonalds, then stopped at a Walmart Neighborhood market on the southwest side of Pueblo for gas. Now we were ready to hop on I-25 for the nearly 300 mile trek to Santa Fe.

We made a brief restroom break at a rest area just north of Trinidad, a coffee break at the McDonalds in Raton, and another restroom break at an interstate rest area closer to Santa Fe. It was more or less an uneventful trip.

Fisher's Peak, just south of Trinidad, CO. The peak is 9,633 feet high. Photo taken from Interestate rest area just north of Trinidad. Raton Pass is to the right of the peak.

Once through Raton Pass, the scenery changed noticeably. Sure, mountains were always in the background, especially towards the west. But now there were broad stretches of flat plains with few trees. The driving was easy, and there wasn't that much traffic as you can see in the pictures posted below. We enjoyed it after all those days of the up and down driving in the mountains. It was nice to put the cruise control on 70 mph and just move along at a steady pace.

I-25 in New Mexico south of Raton.

Wagon Mound Butte in center of picture. It was a noted landmark on the Cimarron Cutoff of the Santa Fe Trail. The mesa stands 6,930 feet.

Near the end of the trip, we cut through Glorietta Pass at an elevation of 7500 feet. It paled in comparison to the passes we had been through earlier on our trip. For history buffs, this was the site of an important Civil War battle between Confederate troops out of Texas and Union volunteers from Colorado and California. This battle more or less ended all attempts by the Confederacy to take New Mexico as well as other objectives in the west.

Once in Santa Fe, we headed to the Plaza, found a parking place, and enjoyed a late lunch at The Shed. I'll talk more about that in another post. After lunch, we found our hotel and enjoyed a comfortable room. After 4 nights at Bronco Billy's, it was nice to be in a modern room again, with modern conveniences. Guess we're getting spoiled in our old age.

The next morning (Tuesday, July 16), we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at the hotel. We were in no hurry, as our destination today was Roswell. Now, had we gone directly to Roswell, we could have been there in just over 3 hours, but I had a more circuitous route in mind; after all, we were playing tourist now.

From Santa Fe, we traveled almost due south along NM 14, otherwise known as the Turquoise Trail, which is a National Scenic Byway. The road snakes south through the foothills between Santa Fe and Albuquerque, dipping into a few old and interesting towns along the way, such as Madrid and Los Cerrillos. Much of the movie Wild Hogs was filmed in Madrid. The movie starred John Travolta, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence, and William Macy.

Church in historic Los Cerrillos.

Highway through Madrid

It was a Tuesday, so not much was happening much in the little towns. Besides, we were a bit early. I'm sure those places don't come alive until at least noon or so. But the countryside was interesting.

Highway south of Madrid

From the Turquoise Trail, we worked our way south to Edgewood on I-40. We were now out of the mountains, though we would dip into some hilly areas from time to time. After a brief stop in Edgewood, we began working our way through remote areas. There are some long stretches in this area where there are few houses. There was one 80 mile stretch where we passed through only one small town. If you omit that town, I bet we didn't see 20 other cars along that stretch, and probably not that many houses. And the land was so dry. Those folks could really use some rain. But I like these open spaces.

Desolate stretch of Highway 42 between Willard and Corona. 

Wind turbines on mesa along highway

Pronghorn along Highway 247 east of Corona. This is close to the "alien" crash site of Roswell fame. Those are the Capitan Mountains in the background. They reach over 10,000 feet.

When we reached Roswell, we went straight to the International UFO Museum and Research Center, located downtown. It was a busy place. In fact, all of Roswell was bustling. I can't say much about the museum. I wasn't that impressed. The museum attempts to make a case for an alien crash there in 1947. However, there is no hard evidence to support their claims of an alien visitation, though there are plenty of accounts making such claims. Still, if you like this sort of stuff, you need to make a stop. We have passed through Roswell numerous times over the years, and we have always said that we need to stop and go through the museum. Well, we finally did. One more item off our list of things to see and do!

Part of the timeline in the museum, explaining the events over a period of a week or so.

No matter where she goes, Donna seems to to find folks she has much in common with.

One of my favorite sci-fi movies is The Day the Earth Stood Still. Here is a reproduction of the robot from that movie.

We then had a great lunch and checked into our hotel. Our last night on the road.

We timed our leaving from Roswell on Wednesday so that we could have lunch at K-Bobs in Lamesa. We took US 380 east for just over 100 miles to Plains, Texas, then turned south on Texas 214 for 15 or so miles to Denver City. Again, we were just traveling through areas we had never traveled before, or had not been through in a long time.

After a brief break at the McDonald's in Denver City, we headed east on Texas 83 for 42 miles to Welch. This took us through places like Seagraves, Loop, and Welch that we were familiar with from our days in tiny Wellman. It was good to see the country again.

After a relaxing lunch at K-Bobs (more about that in a separate post), we headed south on familiar US 87 through Big Spring and then finally San Angelo. It was good to be home again after a long week of traveling.

To Cripple Creek and Beyond

We spent 4 nights at Bronco Billy's in Cripple Creek, from Thursday, July 11 until Monday, July 15. Donna had a good time, but then, Donna has a good time anywhere the booze flows and there are slot machines. And the old girl did well this time. She came home with more money than she went with. I didn't have much luck, so I didn't play much. If the cards aren't falling right, then I know to find something else to do. I had 2 good Tony Hillerman books with me, so I was able to do quite a bit of reading.

The weather in Cripple Creek during our stay was delightful. Nightly lows were in the 50s, and I think they dipped into the 40s a couple of nights. Daily highs were in the 70s. It rained almost everyday while we were there, usually in the late afternoon. The rains were brief, but they cooled off any chance of rising temps. It was quite nice.

Bronco Billy's recently acquired an old shop at the end of the block, so they now own almost that entire block. There are still 2 stores, I believe, that they don't own. The new property has been turned into what they called the Christmas Casino. We enjoyed our time there, and Donna did most of her playing there. It is decorated in a Christmas theme 365 days a year. They play a mix of Christmas music and other music, and the scent of cinnamon fills the air. Rooms are located upstairs, and we think if we go back, we will try to stay there. If you want to experience Christmas in July, then Bronco Billy's Christmas Casino is the place to be.

We usually play a bit at the Double Eagle while in Cripple Creek. We strolled down there the second day we were in town, but we were disappointed to see that they had removed all the good video poker games. Well, they won't be getting any more of my money.

I won't show any pictures of the place; I've done that in previous posts. For those who are interested, you can look back at these entries:

• "Cripple Creek, Colorado" (May 2017)
• "Cripple Creek, Second Time Around" (September 2017)
• "Cripple Creek and Victor Narrow Gauge Railroad" (October 2017)
• "Cripple Creek, September 2018"

We don't know at this time if we will go back. It is a long trip to Cripple Creek, and the altitude really bothered both of us this time. We miss our trips to Nevada, so we might plan a trip out there soon. We'll see.

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Note: We visited the Great Sand Dunes National Park on Thursday, July 11, 2019.

Great Sand Dunes National Park is not one of the better known parks in the national parks system. It certainly doesn't get the attention of Yosemite, Arches, or some of the other better known parks scattered around the country. And there doesn't seem to be as much to do at this park as at other parks in the national park system. For example, there are only 20 miles or so of hiking trails in the park.

But most people come to the park because of the sand, and there is a great deal of that. The sand is the real claim to fame for this park. It contains the tallest sand dunes in North America, reaching about 750 feet in height. When you look at pictures of the sand dunes nestled in front of the mountains, they may not appear that tall, but keep in mind that the mountains in the background reach about 12,000 feet or so.

Dunes don't look high, but those are some tall mountains behind them.

Good picture of end of dunes with mountains in background. Note the trees in right side of picture.

Sand related activities are extremely popular in the park, including sand boarding and sand sledding. Other activities are available, though, including hiking, backpacking, 4 wheel drive adventures, bike riding, and horseback riding, among others. Surprisingly, water activities are also available in Medano Creek.

Donna out back of the visitor center.

Donna and I did not spend too much time at the park. For one thing, we had other places we wanted to be later in the day. But we also follow a blog by an RVer who had recently visited the park, and he mentioned how bad the mosquitoes were in the park. As we drove through a couple of campgrounds, we saw just how bad they were. Even driving by, we could see the huge skeeters buzzing around people. In some places, people were constantly waving their hands and arms and shaking their legs to deter the bothersome pests. At one stop, one got in our car, and it was huge, the size of a small hummingbird, it seemed. Okay, I might be exaggerating a bit, but the little rascal was larger than what we are used to.

We did stop for a brief visit at the visitor center. When visiting parks, that is always the best place to start. From there, we drove all the paved roads of the park, including the Pinon Flats campgrounds. Sites are pretty close together, and there is not enough room for large rigs. There is quite a bit of shade in the area, though, and that is always nice. I was amazed at a few of the trailers I saw. How they wedged those rigs into some of those tight sites is beyond me; they are certainly better drivers than I am.

We wanted to explore the area around the creek, but as we drove through the parking lot, we saw the mosquitoes carrying off a few small children, so we decided against that. So, with a long trek still ahead of us, we decided to exit the park and continue our trek to Cripple Creek.

This picture shows the creek running at the base of the dunes. 

If you click on this picture to enlarge it, you should be able to make out the people just above the green area on the far side of the creek in center of picture. This will give you an idea of just how tall the dunes are. 

4 Mountain Passes and a Big Sand Box

Note: The activities described below occurred on Thursday, July 11, 2019.

A busy day awaited us today, so we woke early and headed north through Raton Pass. At 7,834 feet, it is the lowest of the 4 mountain passes we would visit this day. It is a nice, easy drive through Raton Pass, and once you climb down on the north slope, you are in Trinidad, Colorado. We stopped for coffee and a snack, then hopped back on I-25. Normally when going to Crippled Creek, we stay on I-25 to Pueblo, but we had other plans today, so we exited onto US 160 at Walsenberg and headed west into the mountains.

US 160 is a good highway, with frequent passing lanes. I would not hesitate to pull a travel trailer on this route. As we left Walsenberg, we made note of Lathrop State Park on the north side of the highway. Should we ever come this way in an RV, that would be a good place to spend a few days. 

Before long, the Spanish Peaks appeared on our left (south). We've seen them from I-25 as we head north and south, but never this close. There are 2 peaks. The west peak rises to 13,626 feet while the east peak rises to 12,683 feet. As a point of trivia, West Spanish Peaks is the second highest easternmost peak in the US, second only to nearby Pikes Peak. The Spanish Peaks were important landmarks on the Santa Fe Trail, and would lead travelers through this rugged country and mark the way to Raton Pass.

The Spanish Peaks rise high above the surrounding countryside. It is easy to see how they could be such a prominent landmark to early travelers. Photo taken from north/northeast

Spanish Peaks from north/northwest

Shortly after passing the Spanish Peaks, we began climbing towards LaVeta Pass in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The pass reaches 9,413 feet. There really wasn't anywhere to safely stop at the top of the pass to take pictures, so I have none of this area. As I understand, there are really 2 or 3 passes in this area, depending on how you count: Old LaVeta Pass (9,380 feet) is sometimes called simply LaVeta Pass, and is the original route of early settlers and a railroad; New LaVeta Pass (9,413 feet) is officially called LaVeta Pass, and is the route our highway followed; and Veta Pass (9,220 feet). Officially, Veta Pass is the highest active railroad pass in North America, with active being the operative word here.

The climb to LaVeta Pass from the east is long and gradual, while the descent from the west side is much less dramatic. Certainly for me, the east side is much more interesting. But all of the countryside is impressive. "Awesome" is an overused term today in my opinion, but it is an appropriate word for this country. 

We continued on down the west side of the pass. The good road continued, and we passed through the interesting small village of Fort Garland, then Blanco, before turning north on Highway 150 to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. I'll cover the park in my next entry, so I'll just skip along at this time.

After visiting the park, we headed west on Lane 6 to its intersection with Highway 17. This north/south road runs the length of the San Luis Valley. The headwaters of the Rio Grande can be found in this general area. We passed through here last September on our way from Cripple Creek to Santa Fe, so I'll not discuss it at this time.

Heading north in the San Luis Valley towards Poncha Pass on Highway 17.

At the north end of the valley, we merge with US 285, then head north through Poncha Pass, our third mountain pass of the day. Again, we passed through this 9,010 foot mountain pass last September where I snapped a couple of pictures. 

File photo from Poncha Pass from September 2018 trip through area. This view looks north from the pass.

At Poncha Springs, we turned east for a few miles to stop in Salida for a break. We then drove through the historic downtown section and followed the Arkansas River back to US 285. At Johnson Village, US 285 veers northeast, away from the Arkansas River. 

At Antero Junction, we turned due east on US 24. Traffic was extremely heavy this day, as all traffic on surrounding roads had been detoured onto our highway. We began climbing toward our next -- and final -- mountain pass of the day, Wilkerson Pass. At 9,504 feet, this was the highest pass we traversed for the day. The location is wonderful. There is a Forest Service visitor center, so it is a great place to stop, stretch your legs, enjoy the sights, and take a break. To the west, there are views of over half a dozen 14,000 foot peaks, while Pikes Peak (14,115 feet) dominates the view to the east. 

View of some fourteeners west of Wilkerson pass.

More distant mountains southwest of Wilkerson Pass.

Looking west from Wilkerson pass

Pikes Peak, many miles east of Wilkerson Pass

After a short break, we resumed our trek. We were almost to our final destination. We continued east on US 24 to Florissant, where we turned south on Teller County Road 1 for the final 20 or so miles to Cripple Creek. On our right (west), we noticed the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. Ah, another destination for another trip. And that is sort of how we operate. As we travel, we make note of possible future destinations, then work them in to future trips. That is precisely how our visit to the Great Sand Dunes National Park came about.

But I'm getting ahead of myself . . . .

As we pulled in to Cripple Creek, I was tired. Driving up and down and around in the mountains is a bit stressful at times, and it had been a long day. We were looking forward to settling into our room and relaxing for a few days and doing a bit of gaming at one of our favorite casinos, Bronco Billy's.

For those of you who like to follow along on a map, here is the route we took for this day of travel.

Raton, NM, to Cripple Creek, CO, via 4 mountain passes.

Capulin Volcano National Monument

On our latest trip, Donna and I returned to one of our favorite gaming destinations -- Cripple Creek, Colorado. Now, Donna and I have different interests. She likes gambling, while I like seeing new places, especially if they deal with history in some way. So usually on these trips, we spend a few days in Cripple Creek and then a few days exploring new places along the way.

We left our home last Wednesday morning (July 10). We usually make our way up to Raton, NM, where we spend our first night. On previous trips, we had noted an unusual "mountain" along the way, so this time, we decided to stop and do a bit of exploring.

Capulin Volcano National Monument is located in the northeast corner of New Mexico, just north of the village of Capulin. The volcano is an extinct cinder cone volcano, and it is clearly visible from US 87 for several miles. The monument is part of the national parks system, and we were able to get in using our National Parks Pass. Please note that there is no camping available within the park, and there are restrictions in place regarding length and size of vehicles that wish to drive the road to the top. Please take these restrictions seriously, as the road to the top of the volcano is challenging. For me, it was downright terrifying.

Capulin Volcano as seen from US 87, about 4 miles away. The horizontal line across the middle of the volcano is the road that spirals to the top. The visitor center/headquarters is on the left side.

After a brief stop at the visitor center to check in, we began the spiral drive up the volcano. There is no guard rail on the down side of the road, and the view is spectacular. At the top, you can view into the crater of the volcano and explore the area. There are great views from the top looking out from the southwest to the north.

Visitor Center/Headquarters near base of volcano.

Donna standing at edge of parking lot at the top of the volcano. This view looks west.

Donna used smelling salts to revive me after the terrifying drive to the top, then propped me up for this picture. The view looks southwest. After an hour or so, I was able to loosen my limbs enough to walk around.

This photo is from the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. This aerial view clearly shows the crater at center of volcano, as well as spiral road leading from visitor center at bottom. The parking lot at top is located almost exactly at the center of the bottom lip of the crater. You can barely discern the end of the road leading there. 

Crater of the volcano

The maximum elevation of the volcano is 8,182 feet. The elevation of the nearby town of Capulin is 6,844 feet. That means that the volcano rises somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,338 feet above the surrounding ground.

This photo was snapped as soon as we started our descent. Notice there is no guard rail on the down side of the slope. I don't like that!

Nothing to our left except space, and lots of it.

I believe this is Sierra Grande Mountain, which reaches 8,720 feet. It is to the southeast of Capulin.

Almost at the bottom. You can see the approach road lower left. I do not know the name of the mountain in the distance.

Close up of Capulin Volcano, taken from the approach road. You can barely make out the spiral road starting at lower right of volcano.

Following our ride up and down the volcano, we continued on to Raton, where we checked in to our hotel, enjoyed some sandwiches from the Arby's next door, and settled in for the night so that we would be rested for the next day.

Back Home in SA

Donna and I returned home yesterday from a one week trip. I'm quite busy catching up on mail and other things, so it will probably be a few days before I catch up enough to post about our trip. But I will publish several entries.

For now, I'll just tease you with a few pictures and let you try to figure out where we went.

Heat and Bugs

It's hot and dry in the Concho Valley now. It's been several weeks since our last rain, and I really don't expect much more until September or later. The grass is quickly turning brown, and we are having to hand water our plants regularly now.

Flowers in our front beds. Notice how brown the grass is. That is partially due to lack of rain, but also due to our landscape people who cut the grass far too short for this time of year.

Although the daily highs are now dancing around the 100 degree mark -- one day just below, the next just above -- it is a dry heat, and I'm thankful for that. On our recent trip to East Texas and the Shreveport/Bossier City area, Donna and I suffocated a bit from the high humidity. We'd much rather be in a dry climate.

Zinnias, marigolds, and various herbs in the bed along the garage.

But there are days I wish we lived in a true four-season climate, perhaps some place in the foothills of the Rockies. We do a lot of wishing, but we manage to stay grounded in reality. It's still nice to dream. I find as I grow older, though, that I have more trouble with heat than I do with cold weather. I don't mind cooler weather, though I must admit trouble with true cold weather. Luckily, in our dry climate, we are able to sit out each evening, and we are quite comfortable, especially if there is a nice breeze. And one thing that West Texas has plenty of is breezes.

Zinnias by our front patio gate.

Donna's zinnias are really beautiful right now. I don't know much about flowers, but I do love the varied colors of these flowers as well as the different petals. I guess they are all zinnias; if they aren't, please feel free to correct me. Her tall marigolds have finally started blooming as well. The shorter ones have been blooming profusely for quite a while now, but the tall ones have taken their time. It is so nice to have color in these beds that once were home to those ugly, monotonous shrubs.

I love the variety of color

The flowers have brought an invasion of grasshoppers. As with flowers, I know little about these insects, but the ones we have are quite large, probably measuring about 2 inches or so. And they are everywhere.

Grasshopper looking in our kitchen window. They are everywhere, and they are particularly fond of Donna. They follow her around.

In the pictures of our plants, you may notice a white powder on them. That is baby powder. We read somewhere that such powder deters pests, and we've found it to be rather effective.

We had an interesting visitor the other evening as we sat outside. I noticed something dark on the street behind our house. The street is probably about 75 feet or so from our back patio, and it is down a slope. In all, the street is probably about 6 feet or more lower than our back patio. So, I could clearly see this dark object slowly moving across the street. That I was able to see the object in the late afternoon sun with my old man eyes tells you how large it was.

So, the old woman and I set off to investigate. We discovered that it was a tarantula slowly making its way across the street. Well, we watched the little fellow off and on for the next hour or so, and found him to be quite determined. First, he scaled the curb from street to yard, then headed almost due west and approached our roof mate's patio. (A roof mate is someone we share a roof with; in other words, 2 residences share a common wall and roof.)

Our friendly neighborhood tarantula crossing the street. You can tell something of his size by comparison to my foot, which is roughly a size 9½.

Closeup of my new best friend.

He seemed to have a certain direction in mind that he wanted to go, but the neighbor's home blocked him. So, he turned sharply north, and paraded by our patio as we watched him. At the end of our house, he turned back west, then continued his journey in his original direction. He eventually crossed the street, then scaled the curb and plodded across the lady's yard across the street from us.

This is a view from Google Earth of the route our tarantula took, starting with the red circle at right (east) and moving west, then north, and then west again. That is quite a journey for such a little fellow.

How very interesting! What made him go from point A to point B? What gave him direction? Anyway, I hope he got to where he wanted to be.

And speaking of bugs, we've been invaded by scorpions for the past month or so. Perhaps the heavy rains we had earlier brought them out. Regardless, we've probably killed half a dozen or so in our house the past month. Miss Donna doesn't like scorpions! She's pretty spooky right about now. In fact, I killed a scorpion in our closet just a few moments ago. Donna found him lurking near a corner.

I've not mentioned our other plants. On the north size of our house, we planted several tomato and pepper plants. The cherry tomato plants are quite tall, taller than Miss Donna. And they are producing well. Each one has numerous groups of tomatoes about to turn. The other tomatoes and peppers are just now beginning to set fruit.

Donna also salvaged a hydrangea plant. One of our neighbors thought it was dead and was going to throw it out. We put it in the ground, then Donna carefully trimmed it and has been watering it faithfully. The plant is now looking healthy. There are no blooms yet, but we are hopeful it will survive.

Taller cherry tomato plants are in center. That is the recovering hydrangea at lower left.

What a beautiful red color on this zinnia.

Bloom on one of the tall marigolds. It's a lovely flower.

Final note:

I began writing this on Saturday. There was no rain in our forecast. Sunday afternoon, it began to rain. It rained off and on from mid-afternoon until bedtime. It then rained some more Monday morning. In all, we received slightly more than an inch. How nice! Best of all, the temp never rose above 81 degrees. Today (Tuesday), however, the high is expected to be over 100. That's West Texas for you.